Iran News Round Up

Diplomacy

• Jomhouri-ye Eslami editorializes upon Ahmadinejad’s Revolution Day speech:
  • "Declaration of readiness of the people of Iran to negotiate with the U.S. is another weak point of the speech. Declaration of Iran's position in this issue is the prerogative of the Supreme Leader and, aside from the Supreme Leader, no one is allowed to make comments on the issue unless it is executing the policies of the Supreme Leader.
  • The Supreme Leader's speech in Yazd which elaborated upon various reasons not to engage in relations with the U.S. made clear: "Relations with the U.S. has for the time being no benefit to the Iranian nation and most certainly on the day that relations with America are beneficial for the nation, I'll be the first person to recognize it."
• Fars News Agency commemorates Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie. 
• Supreme Leader Khamenei meets the president of Turkmenistan.
• Afghanistan’s President Karzai accuses Obama of attempting to "isolate" his government.
• Supreme Leader Khamenei speaking to "thousands of people from East Azerbaijan province":
  • "During the past three decades, world imperialism has used all political, economic and military means to annihilate the Islamic Revolution but has reached the conclusion that support of the nation and reliance of the Islamic regime upon the deep belief of the nation has made annihilation of the Islamic Republic impossible. Therefore, they use all their capacity to neutralize the anti-imperialist nature of the regime, and they do everything to reduce the religious content and revolutionary spirit of the regime and this reality calls for vigilance of the authorities and the nation."
• Iraqi Interior Minister orders erasing Persian language street signs and other Persian-language signs in religious places of worship in Najaf and other cities in Iraq.

Iran in the Afghan Media  

• Hasht-e Sobh elaborates on Iranian vice president’s upcoming trip to Afghanistan.
  • First Vice President of Iran Perviz Davoodi will soon visit Kabul to discuss “expansion of bilateral and regional cooperation” with Afghan officials.
  • According to Hassan Qashghavi, spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Tehran has yet to receive a formal request from NATO regarding Tehran’s cooperation in Afghanistan.
  • While Iran has repeatedly voiced support to international community’s efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, it has expressed concern about the increase of foreign troops in Afghanistan and does not see military build-up as a solution to problems in the country.
  • “When the international community, NATO and western nations entered Afghanistan, their main two objectives were to wipe out terrorism and fight drugs. After seven years, we see that they have failed on both fronts,” Iranian Ambassador to Kabul has said.
  • Afghanpaper speculates the Iranian delegation’s one main objective will be to reach a new agreement on disputed waters of Helmand River.
• One million liters of oil daily transported to Afghanistan from Iran’s Khorasan Rezvi province.
• Iran’s Interior Ministry says most of two million illegal immigrants living in Iran are Afghan nationals.
  • According to the ministry, 953,000 Afghans and 43,000 Iraqis have legal residence permit in Iran.
  • An announcement by the ministry adds that there has been an influx of Afghan refugees into Iran over the past months, mainly because of soaring unemployment in Afghanistan.
  • After a senior Afghan delegation led by Vice President Karim Khalili visited Tehran last December, Iran halted expulsion of Afghan refugees [until March 2009].
  • Forced repatriation of Afghan refugees from Iran has been a critical issue for the Afghan government. Two Afghan ministers were impeached last years for their failure to convince Iranian authorities to stop deporting Afghan refugees.
  • Iran has imposed restrictions on Afghan and Iraqi students to force their families to repatriate. But some 222,000 refugees have enrolled in Iranian schools this year, and 2,900 Afghan and Iraqi students are studying in Iranian universities.

Military and Security

• Iranian Air Force to be divided into Air Force and Iran Air Defense Force. 
  • (E) Discussion, in English.
• Defense Minister Najjar to visit counterpart in Russia. 
• (E) Commander underlines deterrent nature of Iran’s missile program.

Politics

• Jomhouri-ye Eslami editorializes:
  • "There were also some weak points in the President's Revolution Day speech in Tehran. He not only compared the state of affairs today with before the Revolution, but he also made some remarkable comparisons based on the year he became president in 2005…
  • He offered examples concerning expansion of universities, increasing university enrollment, articles published in scientific journals, inventions, statistics from the industrial sector, agriculture, cultural heritage, development works, non-oil sector, and the like. The President specifically claimed such developments had taken place since 2005...
  • It would have been more appropriate of the President to address the nation on Revolution day and not certain groups and factions. The people do not take part in demonstrations for the cause of a certain individual, have not been assembled to hear of achievements of the government, but in order to support the Revolution and the regime which belongs to them all…" 
• Jomhouriyyat editorializes: "We must recognize that President Ahmadinejad was a young man during the Revolution and naturally had no greater role in the Revolution and establishment of the Islamic Republic...Attacking former executives and statesmen has no benefit to the regime."
• Kayhan's Shariatmadari writes:
  • "If someone, let's say Kayhan, warns against physical terror of a personality, does it mean that Kayhan endorses physical terror? It is clear that the person making the warning - in this case Kayhan - should be thanked.
  • Kayhan's staff writer has warned against the terrorist nature of the United States and has disclosed the nature of claimants of reform who are foreign mercenaries. The warning was that it is not implausible that when the Americans get disappointed with advancing their agenda by Mr. Khatami, they will terrorize him physically, just like they did with Benazir Bhutto  in Pakistan. Now, since when has such a warning become 'unethical', 'threatening', 'insolent' and the like?!
  • Kayhan knows the real reason behind anger of some individual surrounding Mr. Khatami and will make further documented disclosures in the near future. Is it not true that Ramin Jahanbeglou, Haleh Esfandiari, Shaul Bakhash, Kian Tajbakhsh and the like are well known spies of the Mossad and the CIA?
  • Is it not true that they all are claimants of reform and visible and invisible relations?
  • Is it not worrying that those individuals who have encircled Mr. Khatami have all close relationships with the Mossad and the CIA?!"
  • Combatant Clergy Association condemns Kayhan's threats against Khatami.
• Reformist theoretician Abbas Abdi says Khatami should not have run for president.
  • Kargozaran technocratic faction supports Khatami. 
  • A central committee member of Khatami's campaign office beaten by anonymous "vigilante groups" while campaigning in Southern Tehran.
  • Khatami says negative campaigning backfires, adds he respects the "Constitution and the Supreme Leader and considers it a betrayal to the Revolution and the blood of the martyrs if we are depicted as opposition to the regime. I have never been like this and will never be like this."
  • Khatami appoints Mohammad-Reza Aref - his former vice president – as head of the campaign headquarters.
  • Reformist theoretician Atrian-Far says Khatami will remain in the presidential campaign.
  • Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution spokesman Mohammad Salamati says "radical reformists" are no longer present in Iran and that one should not "judge the entire reform front with their behavior."
• E'temad-e Melli,mouthpiece of Mehdi Karrubi, welcomes potential candidacy of former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, says Karrubi, Khatami and Mousavi provide the electorate with reasonable choices. 
• Motalefeh General Secretary Asgar-Owladi says the Supreme Leader is occupied with the thought of having a stronger government than the ninth. 
  • Jomhouriyyat says Motalefeh Faction General Secretary Asgar Owladi's statements are an "official green light" to attack Ahmadinejad in presidential elections and a sign that the Supreme Leader wants a new president.
• E'temad-e Melli claims prior to Ahmadinejad's visit to Kermanshah, several Ahmadinejad campaign headquarters distributed cash among the population of the city.
• Reformist theoretician Tajzadeh says former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi will not run for president.
• Hojjat al-Eslam Hassan Rowhani says he may still run for president.
• Former National Bank Director General Mazaheri says he is not necessarily a presidential candidate, but wants to defend himself publicly against accusations made against him by the Ahmadinejad government.
• Ahmadinejad to appear live on national television on Tuesday.
• Higher Education Minister says Vice President Rahimi's Ph.D. is fake.
• Ansar News accuses Rafsanjani of diluting the Revolution after Khomeini’s death, and says Rafsanjani propagates "worship of the Sumerian golden calf." 
• Ahmadinejad travels to Yazd. 
• A number of parliamentarians criticize Larijani's disparaging remarks about a man who set himself ablaze in front of the parliament the other day and clarify that the man was not a "drug addict" but a war veteran who was denied the right to speak to his local member of the parliament.

Economy

• Iran Statistics head Mohammad Madad says his organization has produced statistics on poverty in Iran and has provided the Society Security Ministry with the information, but it is up to the ministry to release the data to the public.
  • Social Security Minister Abdol-Reza Mesri says "announcing the statistics is not of use to anyone."
  • The head of the employers' association says families of four making less than 7,800,000 rials per month are below the poverty line.
  • Central Bank reports a growing gap between the rich and poor.
• Supreme National Security Council member Rowhani warns of a difficult year:
  • "Despite the fact that we had good oil revenues and had no other problems, we should have achieved our goals and at the very least move forward with regard to economic growth...Today when it comes to economic growth our position is 16 out of 23 countries in the region...
  • One can also hardly claim that social justice has been achieved...Our economy is also more reliant on oil today."
• Former Agriculture Minister Kalantari criticizes Ahmadinejad government’s track record with regard to development of the agricultural sector. 
• Rafsanjani criticizes Ahmadinejad’s policies: "You can't manage the economy with the language of force. The only way is to create the right atmosphere for employment and solving the problems through such ways… Trial and error is poison for this country." 

Religion, Culture, and Society

• A war veteran sets himself ablaze to protest not being granted a meeting with his local parliamentarian. 
• Three martyrs from the Iran/Iraq war buried at the Payam-e Nour University campus. 
  • Ahmadinejad, without prior warning, participates in burial ceremony of remains of Iran/Iraq war martyrs at Payam-e Nour University campus.
  • Academic Sadegh Ziba-Kalam on burial of war martyrs on campus: "Some political movements who today consider themselves claimants of culture of the front  - not in order to take party political advantage but because they genuinely believe it right to do so - attempt to transfer the legacy of the war to the next generation. But this dilutes and derails the meaning of the sacred defense."

Human Rights and Labor

• A Shiraz University student tells Radio Farda that a jailed classmate has begun a hunger strike to protest recent crackdowns (audio) on free expression.
• (E) Crackdown on independent labor.

Media

• Yas-e Now to republish with Karim Azghandi-Pour as editor-in-chief. 

Photos of the Day                                          

• New photos released of the late master terrorist, Imad Mughniyah.